[ExI] simulation as an improvement over reality

[Mike Dougherty]

On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 4:09 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> It is getting easier now for me to imagine future entertainment, much less
> passive than sitting like a boiled rutabaga in front of a big silver screen,
> far more interactive, more people involved, less money changing hands, waaay
> more variation in the old familiar games.
>

I had an idea for a crowd controlled pong paddle where time-dependent
directive of each player is summed to create the action of each
paddle.  If we both choose to make the left-side paddle move "up" (and
there are no erroneous counter-controls or griefers) then we get a
swift response to our collective goal.  Otherwise the amount of
negative influence puts drag or some other sense of restraint against
immediate satisfaction.  I imagine most would be enjoy the opportunity
to positively defend their side and grief their opponent.  As you
mentioned, there is no reason why the game must be only 2 paddles in a
rectangle - the number of paddles could be a function of the number of
players and the room/board could be any N-gon [N > 2]

I started with pong because the game itself is classically simplistic
and would present a basic learning space for the crowd controlled
interface - but that would revolutionize all those old Atari games
once people collectively got the hang of it.  Space Invaders comes to
mind as an obvious next choice.  (getting 10,000 people to fire that
last leading-the-invader shot could be interesting)

btw, if there are any iPhone/Flash/etc. developers reading this who
decide to build it, please send me an email so I can get skilled
earlier rather than later.  :)